Stride piano, beautifully performed, is amazing. For one, there is the simple athleticism required. Try keeping your left hand moving (on a table) at a typical Waller tempo for three minutes without letting the tempo drop or accelerate. And movement in itself isn’t enough; the keyboard is more than a snare-drum head.

But it’s not simply a matter of pounding out single notes and chords (widely-spaced) in the left hand. The best stride players understand that the form has within it the potential to become mechanical, so they create rhythmic tension between bass and treble; they vary dynamics; they add shade and light through chord voicings.

It’s rather like writing a sonnet: that iambic pentameter, those fourteen lines, that set rhyme scheme can be a prison or its apparent limitations can inspire the most dazzling creativity.

And stride duets are even more intense, more precarious: when they come off splendidly, it is beyond remarkable art and precision.

We are fortunate that even after the great stride triumvirate — Waller, James P., and the Lion — left us, there were many successors (think of Wellstood, Ewell, Sutton in the recent past) and there is a wonderfully creative gang of striders, here and globally, who continue to delight.

The form stretches across the generations. In the Stride Summits held in Walnut Creek and San Francisco at the end of August 2013, concerts invented and sustained by Mike Lipskin, we had Stephanie Trick and Dick Hyman, separated by six decades . . . with Mike, Clint Baker, and Paul Mehling, nestled happily in the chronological middle.

Mike Lipskin — known to most as someone who learned from the Lion, from Eubie Blake, and many other elders, a fine pianist, singer, composer, and wit — is also a diligent musical thinker, so his concerts don’t degenerate into Fast and Loud. These three concerts were beautifully planned and the music was varied throughout.

The Beloved and I saw all three concerts (August 24-25) and enjoyed every note. I was able to bring my camera to the Lesher Arts Center and although I recorded them from one side of the stage, then the other, “waiting in the wings” has never been such a pleasure.

Here is a handful of keys (and, yes, that is the first song) from these happy stride nights that didn’t take place uptown in Harlem some time in 1936 — but in our century.

Fats’s early showpiece, HANDFUL OF KEYS, by Dick and Mike:

Eubie Blake’s TROUBLESOME IVORIES, by Stephanie, who tames the keyboard with grace:

Rocking the house in a different way with BOOGIE WOOGIE STOMP by Stephanie and friends (who couldn’t stop themselves from joining in):

Serene and mystical — the early Gershwin theme, LULLABY, by Dick:

Pastoral ruminations in 3 / 4, with Fats’ JITTERBUG WALTZ, by Dick:

A tribute to James P. Johnson, the worthy patriarch, with OLD-FASHIONED LOVE / KEEP OFF THE GRASS, by Stephanie and Mike:

Pete Johnson’s DEATH RAY BOOGIE (inspired by early science fiction, films, or comic books, I wonder?), by Stephanie:

And something truly “ancient,” Cole Porter’s IT’S ALL RIGHT WITH ME, by Mike and Dick:

It was all right — and more — with three audiences, I assure you.

Did you miss these concerts? You might have, since they were sold out very quickly.

But there’s good news. “Mark it down,” as Billie said on MISS BROWN TO YOU.

There will be another Stride Summit at the positively gorgeous Filoli on August 10, 2014. It is not too early to plan for this ecstatic happening.

P.S. Dinah Lee also sang beautifully at the three concerts. Sadly, the technical limitations of my camera prevented her from being shown off as she should be. But there will be videos of Dinah to come!

Like Michael my wife and I enjoyed each and every note played by these very talented musicians. Kudos to Mike Lipskin for putting the summit together. Where do we get in line for the 2014 Summit. It was a thrill to hear Dick the master and Stephanie a very talented young lady playing note for note with each other.